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By Steven Van Tassell (@SteveVT33)
Another Awards article? I know that’s what everyone who saw this title is thinking that, but these awards are slightly different than the ones announced yesterday by Jay (@JayPoundsNFL) in his weekly article and video. These awards will more closely follow the pattern of the weekly recap articles and won’t have any funny or creative names or titles.
First, we’ll name the Dynasty Owner Player of the Year and Value Player of the Year. In addition, we have plenty of other awards to give away, including Rookie of the Year, Free Agent of the Year and Position Player of the Year and Value Position Player of the Year at every position (QB, RB, WR, TE, K). We might have some honorable mention awards as well depending on how difficult the final decision was on picking a winner.
Why are we looking back at the 2020 season and giving out these awards? As the famous quote goes, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” By knowing the best players and performances from 2020, both current Dynasty Owners and new Dynasty Owners can assess the past season, learn from it and properly prepare for their 2021 Dynasty Owner season and drafts.
All stats are based on the Standard Dynasty Owner scoring system as outlined in the updated Dynasty Owner Constitution. Standard Dynasty Owner scoring gives you .1 points for every yard rushing or receiving, .1 point for every 2 yards passing, 1 point per reception, 6 points for a rushing, receiving or passing touchdown and 2 points for a successful 2-point conversion (rushing, receiving, or passing). Interceptions or fumbles lost cost you 3 points, while a fumble that is recovered by the player’s team is a loss of only 1 point. Bonus points are available for 100-199 yards rushing (2 points), 200 yards rushing or receiving (6 points), 300-399 yards passing (1 point) and 400 yards passing (4 points). There is also a 3 point bonus for clutch scoring, which is a score that results in a lead change in the final two minutes of the 4th quarter or overtime. Kickoff and punt return touchdowns are worth 6 points for the player and kickoff and punt returns are worth 1 point for every 40 yards.
Standard Dynasty Owner scoring for kickers gives you 1 point for every extra point, while a missed extra point will cost you 1 point. It’s 2 points for a field goal of between 0 and 39 yards, 4 points for a field goal between 40 and 49 yards and 5 points for a field goal of 50 yards or longer. A missed field goal of between 0 and 39 yards will cost you 3 points, while a miss of 40 yards or more is a loss of 2 points.
For the purposes of this article, all statistics are from the 2020 Dynasty Owner regular season (Weeks 1 – 13). Salaries listed are from the 2020 Dynasty Owner season as well unless otherwise specified. With the boring caveats out of the way, let’s hand out some awards!
Dynasty Owner of the Year
This one is easy. It’s Viktor Kilgore, the owner of Barbee Kilgore and second winner of the Chase for the Ring. Not only did Viktor win his League Championship and the Ring with 2810.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, but he also finished at the top of the regular season leaderboard with 2258.8 points. Congratulations Viktor!
Dynasty Owner Player of the Year
The 2020 Dynasty Owner Player of the Year is: Patrick Mahomes
The reigning Super Bowl MVP now has a Dynasty Owner Player of the Year award to go on his mantle. Mahomes had a tremendous follow up to his Super Bowl winning season by finishing the 2020 Dynasty Owner regular season with the most points of any player – 423.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. He played in every game and averaged a league high 35.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game. Mahomes may only have won a single Player of the Week honor (back in Week 8), but he had the consistency you want in your #1 draft pick. Both Mahomes and Josh Allen had four games of over 40.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, but what sets Mahomes apart was that he paired those great games with only one game with less than 20.0 points (a 16.0 point performance in Week 7). Dynasty Owners were able to draft him with an early first round pick (ADP 3.5) at his average rookie salary amount of just over $4.1 million. He may be cost-prohibitive in the future as he’ll cost his Dynasty Owners a whopping $45 million in 2021 and beyond, but for 2020, he was the best.
- Regular Season Points: 423.1
- Regular Season Salary: $4,106,447
- Regular Season Cost per Point: $9,706
Dynasty Owner Value Player of the Year
Because this is Dynasty Owner and we’re all looking for value from the players on our roster, we also have the Value Player of the Year. The Dynasty Owner Value Player of the Year is: James Robinson
An undrafted rookie free agent with an annual salary of $763,333 isn’t supposed to be a three-down RB in today’s NFL and work nearly three-quarters (72%) of his team’s offensive snaps. Especially not in a season without any pre-season games, but that’s what James Robinson did during the 2020 Dynasty Owner regular season. And he did it with consistency. Robinson scored 232.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points during the regular season, an average of 19.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game. He only had one game with less than 10.0 points (9.0 points in Week 5) and five games with over 20.0 points.
- Regular Season Points: 232.8
- Regular Season Salary: $763,333
- Regular Season Cost per Point: $3,279
Honorable mention for Value Player of the Year goes to another RB, Aaron Jones. Jones’ salary is slightly lower than Robinson’s at $650,484 for 2020, but he also produced fewer Dynasty Owner fantasy points with 195.3. That was spread over 10 games, so his average was virtually identical to Robinson (19.5 for Jones versus 19.4 for Robinson). Those two games that he missed with injury likely cost Jones the Value Player of the Year award. Since his contract rookie ends and he’s going to sign a much bigger deal for the 2021 season and beyond, he won’t have the opportunity to win it again.
- Regular Season Points: 195.3
- Regular Season Salary: $650,484
- Regular Season Cost per Point: $3,331
Rookie of the Year
Our Dynasty Owner Rookie of the Year is: Justin Herbert
Herbert was the third QB taken in the 2020 NFL draft with the #6 pick and didn’t even start the year as the Chargers’ starting QB. He took over for Tyrod Taylor with little notice in Week 2, put up 27.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in his first game and never came out of the lineup. He had an ADP of 98.8 in Dynasty Owner drafts, significantly behind the two QBs taken ahead of him (#1 pick Joe Burrow – ADP 26.1 and #5 pick Tua Tagovailoa – ADP 64.0), but out produced both of them considerably. Herbert had over 300 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (309.3) and averaged 28.1 points per game. In contrast, Burrow had 223.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in ten games, an average of 22.3 points per game, while Tua only scored 87.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in six games, or 14.6 points per game. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the three of them in 2021 Dynasty Owner start-up drafts after the year that Herbert had in 2020.
- Regular Season Points: 309.3
- Regular Season Salary: $6,644,688
- Regular Season Cost per Point: $21,483
Free Agent of the Year
Our free agent of the year is a player who produced the most Dynasty Owner fantasy points over the course of the Dynasty Owner regular season but was not drafted by a single Dynasty Owners.
Our Dynasty Owner Free Agent of the Year is: Mike Davis
Carolina RB Mike Davis was far off the radar for Dynasty Owners at the beginning of the 2020 season. Not surprising with Christian McCaffrey taking a whopping 93% of the snaps at RB for Carolina in his record breaking 2019 season. At a salary of $3 million, Davis wasn’t even expected to be the backup after registering only 11.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points during the 2019 season. Reggie Bonnafon and his low $585,000 salary was the handcuff choice for Dynasty Owners with an ADP of 237.7 while Davis went undrafted. However, after McCaffrey went out with an injury in Week 2 of the season, Davis stepped in and scored 15.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. He followed that up with three straight games with more than 20.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy point games to cement himself as the top RB in Carolina in McCaffrey’s absence. He faded somewhat after that hot start, but still scored 146.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points during the regular season, an average 14.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game. He ranked 12th in overall regular season points among RBs and 15th in points per game, an amazing and potentially season saving Free Agent Auction pickup for his Dynasty Owners.
- Regular Season Points: 162.3
- Regular Season Salary: $3,000,000
- Regular Season Cost per Point: $18,484
Position Players of the Year
In addition, we have other awards to give away for Position Players of the Year and Value Position Players of the Year at every position (QB, RB, WR, TE, K).
QB of the Year: Patrick Mahomes (KC) – 423.1 points
Since he won Player of the Year, it’s not a surprise that Patrick Mahomes was the QB of the Year. He outpaced the competition by averaging 35.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game. Dak Prescott averaged 35.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game, but only played in five games. Overall, Aaron Rodgers was the #2 regular season QB with 386.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. However, that’s an average of 32.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game for Rodgers, or 3.1 fewer per game than Mahomes since both of them played in all 12 regular season games.
Value QB of the Year: No Winner
Last year, this was easily Dak Prescott’s award with a $1,846 cost per point ($525,000 annual salary divided by 193.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points). Nobody came close to that cost per point with Gardner Minshew costing $3,996 ($677,721 million annual salary divided by 169.6 Dynasty Owner fantasy points). However, Minshew didn’t play a minute in the Dynasty Owner regular season after Week 7 so his Dynasty Owners only had him for half of the regular season. Cam Newton had more points (218.5), but his cost per point was $8,009 ($1.75 million annual salary divided by 218.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points). If not for his $1.75 million salary, Newton really wouldn’t have been worth owning.
RB of the Year: Dalvin Cook (MIN) – 287.4 points
When Dynasty Owner drafts were getting ready to start, Dalvin Cook was threatening to holdout and not report to training camp. Flash forward to the actual season and anyone who had a mid-to-late first round pick and avoided Cook in those early drafts (ADP 12.5) must be kicking themselves for missing out of his 287.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in the regular season. Despite missing a game, Cook had more points than any other RB this season and finished second to Christian McCaffrey in average Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game for a RB (30.1 points per game for McCaffrey in three games versus 26.1 points per game for Cook). Cook was a bargain at his 2020 salary of $1.59 million, which will increase by a little over $11 million to $12.6 million for the 2021 season.
- Regular Season Points: 287.4
- Regular Season Salary: $1,588,334
- Regular Season Cost per Point: $5,527
Honorable mention to Alvin Kamara who had nearly as many Dynasty Owner fantasy points as Cook (280.9), but played in one additional game for even less in salary this season. Cook had more Dynasty Owner fantasy points and the higher average points per game (26.1 for Cook to 23.4 for Kamara) and was drafted a few picks later on average (12.5 ADP for Cook to 7.7 ADP for Kamara), while Kamara’s lower salary of just under $1 million made him a better value on a cost per point basis. Cook was the #1 RB this season, but Kamara wasn’t too far behind.
- Regular Season Points: 280.9
- Regular Season Salary: $964,443
- Regular Season Cost per Point: $3,433
Value RB of the Year: James Robinson (JAX) – 232.8 points
As mentioned above in the Value Player of the Year recap, this was a very close contest, but James Robinson wins the Value RB of the Year, just as he won the Value Player of the Year award. Robinson had a $3,279 cost per point which was slightly better than both Aaron Jones ($3,331) and Alvin Kamara ($3,433). Robinson is also the frontrunner for this honor in 2021 unless he receives a new contract in the off-season as he is still on his rookie free agent deal, while Kamara has already signed a new contract worth $15 million per year starting in 2021 and Jones will be a free agent and looking to get paid much more as well.
WR of the Year: Davante Adams (GB) – 261.9 points
Despite not having the most Dynasty Owner fantasy points at his position, Davante Adams is our winner. Adams finished 18.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points behind Tyreek Hill, but played in two fewer games. As a result, Adams’ points per game average was higher (26.2 for Adams to 23.2 for Hill). Adams was also better on a cost per point basis with his $14.5 million salary being $3.5 million less than Hill’s salary. Adams has the highest cost per point of any of our position winners, but he was worth it. He only had four out of ten games with less than 20.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, so he provided a more steady source of points on a weekly basis than Hill did.
- Regular Season Points: 261.9
- Regular Season Salary: $14,500,000
- Regular Season Cost per Point: $55,365
Honorable mention for the WR honor to Tyreek Hill. Hill’s ability to play in all 12 regular season games in 2020 along with having the single biggest week in Dynasty Owner history when he scored 63.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in Week 12 were good, but just not good enough to beat Adams. Hill averaged 23.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game and had only one game in the single digits (5.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in Week 6), but he had five additional games with less than 20.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, or two more than Adams. Hill’s $18 million annual salary and $64,309 cost per point are high but well worth paying for his top level production.
- Regular Season Points: 279.9
- Regular Season Salary: $18,000,000
- Regular Season Cost per Point: $64,309
Value WR of the Year: D.K. Metcalf (SEA) – 231.9 points
In looking for a Value WR of the Year, crunching the numbers for many of the lower paid, but mildly productive WRs in the league such as Jakobi Meyers ($588,333) and Greg Ward ($540,000) seemed like a good place to start the search. After that, there’s a set of more productive, but slightly higher paid WRs who made just under $1 million this season. Players such as Terry McLaurin, Cooper Kupp and last year’s winner Chris Godwin. Finally, at almost the top of the list sat D.K. Metcalf and his $1.146 million salary. Metcalf had far more Dynasty Owner fantasy points than those other WRs as the #3 WR in the Dynasty Owner regular season, but his $1 million plus salary seemed unlikely to win a Value award. It turns out that Metcalf was indeed the biggest Value at the WR position in Dynasty Owner as he was the only WR with a cost per point below $5,000 in 2020.
- Regular Season Points: 231.9
- Regular Season Salary: $1,146,513
- Regular Season Cost per Point: $4,944
TE of the Year: Travis Kelce (KC) – 241.6 points
How dominant of a TE is Kelce? First, he is the only repeat winner of the Position Player of the Year award, winning for second consecutive year with more regular season Dynasty Owner fantasy points than last year (201.3). He had 45.5 more points than his nearest fellow TE (Darren Waller) and was the only TE to average over 20.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game (20.1). That was 3.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game more than George Kittle, who only played in six regular season games, and 3.8 more points per game than Waller. His $9.37 million salary is high, but not the highest at the position in 2020 and he nearly gives you top WR production at the TE spot. His salary is scheduled to go up by nearly $5 million to $14.3 million in 2021, but he’s the favorite to win this award for the third time.
- Regular Season Points: 241.6
- Regular Season Salary: $9,368,400
- Regular Season Cost per Point: $38,776
Value TE of the Year: Robert Tonyan (GB) – 138.7 points
For the 11 Dynasty Owners per league who didn’t draft Kelce, there were plenty of TEs projected to do well in 2020 for under $1 million (George Kittle, Mark Andrews and Jonnu Smith). However, all of them finished with fewer Dynasty Owner fantasy points than a player (Robert Tonyan) who went undrafted in Dynasty Owner this season. Only Kelce, Waller and T.J. Hockenson outscored Tonyan over the Dynasty Owner regular season and he was 7th in average points per game (11.6), just behind Andrews and Dallas Goedert who both came in at 11.7 points per game. At only $750,000 in salary for 2020, Tonyan is the choice for Value TE of the Year.
- Regular Season Points: 138.7
- Regular Season Salary: $750,000
- Regular Season Cost per Point: $5,407
K of the Year: Younghoe Koo (ATL) – 117.0 points
Only one kicker other than Koo received any consideration for this honor – Jason Sanders. Both were the only kickers to average over 10.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game. Both were also the only kickers to score 10.0 or more Dynasty Owner fantasy points in half of the games that they played. And both were among the kickers with the lowest salaries in 2020. Koo missed one game and had just 6.0 fewer Dynasty Owner fantasy points than Sanders. This led Koo to have a better average (10.6 points per game versus 10.3 for Sanders), so Koo wins the honor by the slimmest of margins.
- Regular Season Points: 117.0
- Regular Season Salary: $660,000
- Regular Season Cost per Point: $5,641
Value K of the Year: Jason Sanders (MIA) – 123.0 points
Truly the only reason that Sanders is the Value Kicker of the Year and not the Kicker of the Year is that he had a better cost per point ($5,185 for Sanders versus $5,641 for Koo). As mentioned above, Sanders had more points, but a slightly lower points per game average because he played in one more game.
- Regular Season Points: 123.0
- Regular Season Salary: $637,800
- Regular Season Cost per Point: $5,185
Congratulations to all of our winners and honorable mentions. All of you were probably on plenty of teams that won their Dynasty Owner League Championship, and your Dynasty Owners appreciate your efforts in the 2020 season.
Now that we’ve looked back at the 2020 regular season, it’s time to really start preparations in earnest for the 2021 Dynasty Owner season. But what did our look at 2020 teach us? QBs are the high scorers, RB is the position that you look for value and don’t forget to be active in the Free Agent Auction during the season to find those undrafted guys who could help your Dynasty Owner team.
My articles and videos on getting you ready for your 2021 Dynasty Owner start-up league team will be out on Fridays throughout the off-season. Keep an eye out for new articles and videos from the rest of our team of Dynasty Owners writers as well. On Mondays, Nate Christian (@NateNFL) will break down rookies in his Prospect Preview. Matt Morrison – The Jerk (@Dynastyjerk) is back for another year and will do a deep dive into contracts on Wednesdays. Jay Pounds (@jaypoundsnfl) has his articles and videos on how to rebuild your Dynasty Owner roster on Thursdays. Read all of their articles, watch and like all of their videos on YouTube (and all of the other available formats, such as Spotify) and follow the four of us plus Dynasty Owner (@Dynasty_Owner) on Twitter.
Thanks for reading and good luck in your quest to be the 2021 Chase for the Ring winner!
Steven Van Tassell is a freelance writer for Dynasty Owner.
Follow us on Twitter: @SteveVT33 and @Dynasty_Owner